Using microfabrication technology and nanotechnology, Harvard University researchers constructed the world’s smallest diagnostic NMR system for fast and inexpensive analysis of native biological samples.

Although current laboratory tests and imaging studies cannot predict whether a tumor will spread quickly, a new imaging technique – hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI—developed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and GE Healthcare may provide new insights into how tumors use energy. The technique could help clinicians more precisely tailor therapies to slow or halt a tumor’s progress.

Researchers have designed a fist-like surgical tool the size of a dust particle that can open and close in response to chemicals or heat. The device, called a microgripper, does not require batteries or any electrical source and some day could be used to collect biopsy samples, remove blood clots, and deliver drugs to parts of the human body that wired tools cannot access.

Once symptoms of a stroke appear, brain tissue begins to deteriorate. Restoring blood flow to the brain quickly can mean the difference between a return to health or months of disability. A research team at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has developed a device that easily snakes into the brain’s twisty vessels and can unclog an artery in a matter of minutes using gentle pulses of ultrasonic energy. This is in sharp contrast to current technologies that often take up to two hours to work.

Preserving fertility is a major concern for women and girls facing cancer diagnosis because chemotherapy and radiation are harmful to the ovaries. Scientists are developing 3-D scaffolds that mimic the ovary so that immature egg cells could be matured outside of the body. The technology will allow women to freeze their ovarian tissue for use at a later time, without the need for time-consuming ovarian stimulation.

Different diseases affect the shape of blood vessels. Cancer, for instance, tends to change vessels from smooth tubes into jagged conduits. But conventional imaging alone cannot reveal key details about a blood vessel’s shape. By combining magnetic resonance angiography with computer analysis, researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, have developed a noninvasive method to assess tumor malignancy and to track response to drug therapy. The approach also offers insight into how the brain ages.

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today that it has awarded ten Phase II interdisciplinary research training grants totaling $16 million over five years.

Communication is a challenge for people who are locked into their bodies as a result of a severe neuromuscular condition such as Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) or brainstem stroke. By training the brain to control its own electrical activity rather than the body’s muscles, researchers at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, are helping these individuals remain connected to their families, friends, and colleagues and are opening up new possibilities for brain-computer interactions.

A new imaging technique, once validated in mice and pending further experiments, could provide a real-time noninvasive method for identifying tumors in humans who express HER2 and who would be candidates for targeted therapy directed against this protein.

A research team headed by Drs. Mehmet Toner, Ph.D. and Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D., of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, has been awarded a $15 million research grant from the proceeds raised by the Entertainment Industry Foundation during their landmark Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) telethon.